About Us

About Us

At Reef-World we pride ourselves on delivering meaningful and tangible results for marine conservation.

Mission Statement

"To inspire and empower people to act in conserving and sustainably developing coastal resources, particularly coral reefs and related ecosystems."

Vision

Reef-World believes that nobody wants to harm the very environment we rely on to survive, and that by investing in educating people we can achieve conservation impact on the ground and in the reefs.

Philosophy

Reef-World uses the most powerful tool available to us all, education. We provide strategic capacity building assistance, based on sound science to local environmental champions who are well positioned to spread this knowledge within their community or industry for conservation action.Reef-World's main project, Green Fins works with the marine tourism industry. Scuba diving and snorkelling attracts millions of people from all over the world and the industry itself employs a vast number of people, both foreign and from local communities. By targeting this community to spread our messages, Reef-World effectively helps to protect local ecosystems and build a sustainable tourism industry.

@green_fins assessment data gives us the information to identify the biggest risks posed to the #marine environment from the diving industry. The #GreenFinsIYOR2018 Campaign will be divided into 4 Action Points, ways in which the #diving community CAN make a change to #SaveOurReefs
First of all: #RedefineTheDive! Learn how to be the most environmentally aware diver to have zero impact dives. #IYOR2018

There are many reasons why the global population should aim to have a #sustainable use of #coral #reefs, and one of them is the #economic stability of many countries! .
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #tourism #sustainabletourism

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans gain from the natural environment and its many ecosystems. If it's not enough to know that #coralreefs sustain most life in the #oceans, then how about this?
.
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #tourism #sustainabletourism #ecosystem #services

#Repost @green_fins with @get_repost
・・・
This year was internationally declared as #IYOR2018 because this marine ecosystems are vital for life under AND above water. We all know the importance of the #amazons to life on Earth, do you know that #coralreefs are their #aquatic counterpart? .
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #greenfins #reefs #ocean #marinelife #diving #forests

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

Valentines can also represent new beginnings! #Repost @unenvironment with @get_repost
・・・
We want you to break up for #ValentinesDay. It’s time to end your toxic relationship with single-use plastic. Head to the link in our bio to commit to #CleanSeas and share a photo of your new ❤️ with #CleanSeas tagging @unenvironment!

Why are #sharks so important for the #marine #ecosystem? For MANY reasons! As #apex #predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the #species below them in the #foodchain and serving as an #indicator for #ocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity.
Photo by: Tomas Kotouc

GEARING up to change the world – creating a green economy and measuring success

There are many good projects to protect the environment or improve social circumstances but the questions remains - how to be sure that a project 'does what it says on the tin'? Reef-World's Green Environmental Assessment Rating System (GEARS) goes a long way to being able to show the positive difference the British charity is making to the social infrastructures and marine environment in the locations in which it works. GEARS is a method developed by The Reef-World Foundation, initially to monitor the success of their own reef conservation projects in South East Asia.

How does GEARS work?

Once a project with environmental and/or social goals has been developed, the GEARS system allows an organisation to set up a simple monitoring system.

The success of several objectives or milestones required to reach the overall goals can be measured using a green-amber-red rating system, based on a weighted score for each objective allowing for industry wide problems to be easily isolated.

History of GEARS

GEARS was the brainchild of Anne Miller of The Reef-World Foundation. "I had already been living and working in the dive tourism industry and had started Reef-World in 1999 with help from Leonardo DiCaprio when he came to Thailand to film ‘The Beach’. I was looking for ways to manage and measure our success in the field remotely. I wanted to be able to demonstrate that we weren't just talking the talk, but were making a real difference with our projects – enabling us and those we worked with in the community to be financially sustainable, improving people's lives and protecting their local environment. I was looking for a way to show how well we were performing to a triple bottom line (economically, socially and environmentally). Purely by chance, I took a temporary job at a large pharmaceutical company in Britain that became the turning point for my finding just the approach we needed."

The approach was based on a financial risk assessment methodology being developed within the Group Internal Audit department of this company. The methodology was used to identify financial risks and create controls to mitigate those risks. Anne realised that if environmental risks were approached in the same way, this would be a good basis for a new Reef-World system and began by looking at risks or threats faced by a coral reef ecosystem.

At the time Reef-World was working on reef conservation, education and community based tourism projects and began to use GEARS to help measure the successes of these projects. "I had to make a lot of changes to the original methodology so that we could ensure a level of objectivity, consistency and rating. I started in 2001 and had the rudiments of the system in place that year. It developed within Reef-World over the next few years and was used on smaller local projects in Thailand. I was then on the lookout for an international project so that we could test the system in a larger context".

GEARS and Green Fins

The opportunity arose when Reef-World were approached to take on the Green Fins project. It was at this point where Chloe and James Harvey joined Reef-World and they helped to apply GEARS to the Green Fins Code of Conduct to develop a way to monitor performance of businesses. The Green Fins Code of Conduct includes both social and environmental objectives, such as reducing the amount of waste and discharge of dive & snorkel operators. Using the GEARS method, Chloe and JJ developed the Green Fins assessment system to be able to measure details down to the ground level, for example recording if a dive or snorkel boat provides safe disposal of old engine oil. Along with input from a host of Green Fins champions representing the public, research and private sectors, the GEARS helped to shape what was to become the internationally recognised Green Fins approach.

Staff

Staff

Our staff are experienced and driven individuals who excel at networking and empowering those who are in a position to act to make change.

Chloë has been leading Reef-World’s fundraising efforts, international strategy and conservation programmes since 2008. She has a First Class degree with honours in Marine Biology from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (2005) and has been a keen diver since the age of 12. She is a qualified BSAC Assistant Instructor and spent most of her teenage years enjoying the sights and sounds of the underwater world around the UK coast.

Alongside JJ (her husband and Reef-World’s Operation Manager), Chloë has led the international development of Green Fins since 2008 under the direction of UNEP. Following in the footsteps of Reef-World’s founder Anne Paranjoti, Chloë has absorbed the Reef-World “to inspire and empower” philosophy and blended this with her scientific nature to drive the Green Fins management and training systems towards the practical approach it is today delivering tangible results across SE Asia.

She has been involved in establishing, capacity building, and implementation of Green Fins within the government and private sectors in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives and Vietnam.

Chloë believes that education is her most powerful tool to save our coral reefs. She feels that we all choose to do things because of how we've been brought up, the experiences we've had and the lessons we've been taught. The Reef-World recipe is simple; provide people with knowledge to inspire change and match this with simple tools and guidance to practical solutions to instigate behavioural changes, the result; people taking meaningful and lasting action for environmental protection.

As Operations Manager at Reef-World, JJ has led the development of Green Fins across seven South East Asian countries since 2008 training national governments and NGO's to manage the initiative. Today, Green Fins is a globally recognised approach for managing sustainable diving activities internationally with a proven conservation impact.

He is also a marine biologist and Divemaster with over 10 years’ experience working in tropical marine environments. This combined background provides a scientific and balanced approach to training, helping to educate those in a position to act and explain how and why it is important to reduce threats to marine ecosystems. JJ has worked closely with national governments, the private sector and international agencies to achieve successful outcomes that are meaningful to all stakeholders.

JJ enjoys the everyday challenges of his work, specifically working alongside complex social and industry dynamics and the varied environments and cultures that he’s exposed to. He believes that nobody wants to harm the very environment we rely on to survive, and that by investing in the education of key people, Reef-World can achieve conservation impact on the ground and on the reefs.

He also brings to the team a fantastic knowledge of the opportunities of IT and the power the on-line community can bring to Reef-World, its projects and partners and continues to make our work more accessible to everyone, everywhere.

JJ can be contacted at jj@reef-world.org

Samantha CravenProject Manager

Favourite Marine Critter: Harlequin Shrimp (Hymenocera picta)

Sam read marine biology at the University of Plymouth, graduating with a First class honours degree (2006) and achieving a distinction in her Masters in Applied Marine Science (2007). Working as a field biologist and project manager, Sam got years of experience leading teams and teaching biology and conservation issues from ridge to reef in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2011, Sam decided to pursue a career more tightly focused on Conservation and moved to her mother’s homeland, the Philippines. Sam found her professional home in Reef-World in 2012 and continues to seek professional development. In 2016, she was selected as a Kinship Conservation Fellow.

The majority of Sam’s time entails managing our field team, and working with the Green Fins initiative with a focus on the Philippines. Sam has trained and managed teams of Green Fins assessors, local NGOs and local champions to great success at sites all over the Philippines, and coordinates with our National and Regional Government partners to implement Green Fins. In addition, she adds to the communications and social media development, having built a substantial following of her marine biology and conservation awareness blog, Mad as a Marine Biologist.

Having witnessed first-hand the degradation of marine resources and dived some of the best coral reefs in the Philippines and neighbouring countries in the Asia-Pacific region, she stands firm in her belief that with the right information and tools, communities all over the region can have significant, positive effects on their coastal habitats.

Juliana has developed her professional career up until this point in communications, specially focused on graphic design, graduating with a First class honours degree in 2010 in Advertising Design at Universidad Véritas, San José, Costa Rica. In addition to her creative vein she has always been passionate about the marine environment, leading to the completion of a Masters degree in Environment, Development and Peace with an emphasis in Sustainable Natural Resource Management at the UN mandated University for Peace, Costa Rica. She has experience working within the diving industry in Costa Rica and has a keen enthusiasm to combine her design and communication skills with marine conservation to enable her to address problems from another perspective.

Juliana seeks to orient her professional career towards a conscious interaction and a fairer relationship, based on mutual respect, between humans and nature. She’s eager to develop campaigns that will impact local communities in order to shift people’s thought and awareness. Helping to build a better understanding for those that live in a constant interaction with the marine environment. She is looking forward to the creation of new projects to change the course of the marine environment, put her creativity and enthusiasm at society’s service to protect life and what sustains it.

She can be contacted directly at juliana@reef-world.org

Klementina DukoskaGlobal Partnerships Manager

Favourite marine critter: Manta ray (Manta birostris)

With an B.Sc in Economics from the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Klementina has a wealth of experience in fundraising and partnerships. Wanting to dedicate her career to sustainable development she has broadened her knowledge by undertaking a MSc. in Sustainable Development, Natural Resources Management. With a decade of experience in partnership development and consultancy for start-ups and NGOs, Klementina is also an active climate advocate and speaker as part of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

With a drive for conservation stemming from the need to sustain our ecosystems in order to sustain ourselves, Klementina joined the team in 2017. She aims to combine sustainable development, conservation and business model innovation, by pursuing progressive financing practices to allow Reef-World to achieve its conservation goals globally.

She can be contacted directly at klementina@reef-world.org

Trustees

Trustees

The Reef-World Foundation is overseen by a board of Trustees who govern the overall strategic direction of the charity. They ensure it fulfils the charitable objectives and all legal obligations of a UK registered charity under the Charity Commission. A face to face Annual General Meeting takes place once a year between the Trustees and Senior Management and further intermediate meetings over Skype, in order to reduce the carbon footprint of our international team. All annual activity and financial reports are prepared and circulated in electronic form to minimise printing and paper use.

The Reef-World trustees are:

Mrs Anne Paranjoti

Mrs Andrea Leeman

Dr Vivienne Stein -Rostaing

Dr Paul Younge

Anne ParanjotiFounder and Trustee

Anne Paranjoti (Miller) is a coral reef naturalist and educator. She is a scuba diving instructor and in 2001, she returned to live in North Wales after 9 years in Thailand.

Anne enjoys quietly observing wildlife and the reef environment. She says “There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between one of our own communities and a coral reef – that’s where the idea for Reef-World originated. I wanted to find a way to quickly illuminate for a snorkeller or diver what was going on in the reef system” and to give people an opportunity to do something to help protect them.

Anne began diving in the Maldives in 1988. She has dived and taught throughout the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean.

In 1988, she graduated from Loughborough University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science Upper Second degree in Management Science. After two years work with a software consultancy firm, Anne began looking for ways to apply management skills to save tropical coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds and to educate the public about them. She has led workshops and presented papers at a number of international seminars.

In 1992, she became a PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor and spent one year diving and teaching in the Dominican Republic. In 1993, she moved to Phuket, Thailand. Since then, she has taught and dived extensively in both the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Siam. In 1995, she founded Reef-World to educate tourists and community members about how to be active in the conservation of tropical coastlines.

The Reef-World Foundation was established as a Charitable Trust in the UK in 1999. Anne has designed and written Reef-World courses ranging from a one hour slide show presentation, all the way to a full three day Coral Reef Ecology Course, with courses for local fishing communities which focus on English language training and reef monitoring and courses for visiting tourists which are a light-hearted look at life on a reef. She is a Reef-World Instructor who has taught and led field trips for local primary and secondary schools in Thailand. She has developed strong links with the United Nations Environment Programme East Asia Seas Regional Coordinating Unit (now COBSEA) to provide Reef-World training to tropical communities actively working to conserve reefs and tropical coastlines in their area.

Anne can be contacted directly at amiller@reef-world.org

@green_fins assessment data gives us the information to identify the biggest risks posed to the #marine environment from the diving industry. The #GreenFinsIYOR2018 Campaign will be divided into 4 Action Points, ways in which the #diving community CAN make a change to #SaveOurReefs
First of all: #RedefineTheDive! Learn how to be the most environmentally aware diver to have zero impact dives. #IYOR2018

There are many reasons why the global population should aim to have a #sustainable use of #coral #reefs, and one of them is the #economic stability of many countries! .
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #tourism #sustainabletourism

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans gain from the natural environment and its many ecosystems. If it's not enough to know that #coralreefs sustain most life in the #oceans, then how about this?
.
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #tourism #sustainabletourism #ecosystem #services

#Repost @green_fins with @get_repost
・・・
This year was internationally declared as #IYOR2018 because this marine ecosystems are vital for life under AND above water. We all know the importance of the #amazons to life on Earth, do you know that #coralreefs are their #aquatic counterpart? .
#GreenFinsIYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #DiveForChange #sustainablediving #greenfins #reefs #ocean #marinelife #diving #forests

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

We are very excited to announce the release of the Green Fins International Year of the Reef 2018 Campaign! #GreenFinsIYOR2018
The campaign aims to raise awareness within the #diving industry to make #sustainablediving the social norm. Go to Reef-World's website to know more about the campaign:
www.reef-world.org/green-fins
.
#IYOR2018 #SaveOurReefs #marine #conservation #oceans #dive #diving #snorkelling #underwater #reefs #polyp #coralcover #climatechange

Valentines can also represent new beginnings! #Repost @unenvironment with @get_repost
・・・
We want you to break up for #ValentinesDay. It’s time to end your toxic relationship with single-use plastic. Head to the link in our bio to commit to #CleanSeas and share a photo of your new ❤️ with #CleanSeas tagging @unenvironment!

Why are #sharks so important for the #marine #ecosystem? For MANY reasons! As #apex #predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the #species below them in the #foodchain and serving as an #indicator for #ocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity.
Photo by: Tomas Kotouc

Partners

Partners

Below are a list of the various organisations that have supported us directly or we have collaborated with on one or more of our projects.

If you would like to be a partner, or would like to know more, then please fill out the form below.

Become a Partner

If you would like to partner with us, fill out the form below and one of our staff members will get back to you.